Abstract

With the tremendous amount of increase in cyber threats on the Internet, the security of data traveling over a network has become a significant concern for all the netizens. As a result, a large number of Internet users have started using firewalls and VPN (Virtual Private Network) to ensure more protection for their data on the go. Though mostly considered as defenders of our network security, sometimes firewalls and VPNs can also pose some serious threats to its users. Our research focuses on addressing these security flaws by providing a specific illustration of the working principles and performance of the firewalls and VPNs, including the technologies behind them and their benefits, significant potential risks it may bring due to some considerable loopholes in their architecture, and the possible solutions to those security issues. We hope that our research will bring a better understanding of these security issues and their solution to help users and organizations to deal with these security threats and risks in a better way.